It is common practice to wear eye patches during a post-surgery period or after injury to the eyes. During this time it is especially critical to protect the eyes since they are particularly sensitive to bright lights and susceptible to infection. Presently, there are a variety of protective eye patches available on the market. Eye patches are typically formed from a suitable rigid material such as plastic, some kind of metal (preferably aluminum), or the like. Eye patches are commonly configured in suitable shapes to cover the eye and its surrounding area. Some eye patches have a uniform circumference and others, particularly those made from aluminum, have a serrated edge.
A common drawback with existing eye patches is that the rigid circumference, whether uniform or serrated, penetrates or applies pressure against the area surrounding the eye, which might already be inflamed and sensitive. This causes discomfort and sometimes additional injury. Therefore, to prevent additional injury or trauma, protective devices made of soft material are commonly stretched over the perimeter of the patch and used to protect the skin from the rigid edge. An existing concern with such devices which are utilized for this purpose is that they are often more expensive than the patch itself, and thus significantly increase the cost of the combination to the patient. Furthermore, these devices tend to slip off the edge of the patch. Once the perimeter garter is displaced, the rigid edge of the eye patch is again exposed.
The most common commercially available devices are manufactured of cloth woven from elastic material. Such devices comprise a circular strip of such cloth, wherein the edges of the strip are bound with elastic binding thread, so that the edges have a smaller relaxed diameter than the central portion of the strip. This configuration causes the strip, even in its relaxed state, to form a configuration resembling an automobile tire, i.e., a circular strip with its edges folded inwardly toward the center. When these strips are stretched around an eye patch, the added resiliency at the edges of the strips assures that the garter will closely conform to the edge of the patch, and will lie flat against both the front and back surfaces of the patch.
Such a construction helps to prevent the strip from slipping away from the edge of the patch. However, this woven and bound construction requires a considerable amount of hand labor which substantially increases manufacturing costs.